Day: December 23, 2024

As his days neared their end,
he faced them alone.
No wife. No family. No friends. All dead.

He had become a hermit, alone
and lonely, but he yielded to his fate.

He’s had eighty-three years of a bittersweet life
with many dreams unfulfilled.

One freezing winter night
he fell asleep on an old creaking bed
in a dingy apartment he couldn’t afford to heat.

He dreamed about those unfulfilled dreams
in that freezing winter night and died during those dreams,
his body stiff and frozen to death.

Bob Boyd

Crossed His Fingers and Prayed

The day his wife died after 50 years of marriage
he wondered what was the point of romantic love
if it eventually ends in such a drastic fashion.
He thought about his son who never found true love
despite having been with ten women in relationships
that never worked out.
He wondered why for some true love never lasts
and why some never find it.
He went to bed, crossed his fingers and prayed
that he’d be with his wife again when he died.
A year later he married a new wife.

Bob Boyd

He said he was dead,
yet his body was still alive
and he walked and he talked.
He said he was dead inside,
that his body
and his mind
were on automatic pilot.
His spirit, he claimed,
had left for the spirit world.
Maybe what he said was true,
or maybe partly true,
when he really died nine days
after he made that proclamation.

Bob Boyd